In August 2022, the Institute for Immigration Research (IIR) published a detailed report on Plyler v. Doe, the U.S. Supreme Court case that "guarantees access to a free K-12 public school education for undocumented children in the United States." In the report, titled "Plyler v. Doe: Implementation, Challenges, and Implications for the Future," IIR Graduate Research Assistant and Sociology PhD Student, Amanda Warner, overviews the context of the initial Supreme Court decision in 1982 as well as legal challenges to the case since then.
Today, Plyler v. Doe again faces possible legal challenges. According to a recent Chalkbeat article, in which Warner is quoted, The Heritage Foundation "recently released a brief calling on states to require public schools to charge unaccompanied migrant children and children with undocumented parents tuition to enroll." However, as Warner summarizes in the 2022 report:
Based on the prevailing literature and immigration policy, what is most needed in order to make a more resounding impact on the education system for immigrants is more affirmative policy to securing immigrants' access to education. This can be manifested in a number of ways, the most impactful being Congressional action codifying Plyler rather than overturning it. Moreover, federal policy needs to go further than simply guaranteeing a right to free public K-12 education, but also to implement policies outright barring tracking, reporting, and other measures, which have been employed by state and local education systems, that have a chilling effect on immigrant access to education.
As immigrant children's access to public K-12 education again faces possible challenges in the Supreme Court, understanding the initial context, previous legal challenges, and individual and societal benefits of these rights to education remains critical.
You can download the full IIR Plyler v. Doe report or concise Q&A here.